There was a time when fixed wireless was going to be the savior of new Covad, the post-bankruptcy version of once high-flying DSL company. The company was so excited that it conducted a few trials of its pre-WiMAX network and eventually launched the service in the San Francisco Bay Area. I got so excited I wrote about that service again and again. And today comes the news that there won’t be any Covad Wireless. TelePacific, a Los Angeles-based business CLEC is buying Covad Wireless, from its owner, NextWeb, which in turn is owned by MegaPath. Covad had acquired NextWeb in 2005 for about $ 28 million.
TelePacific gets 3,500 profitable fixed wireless broadband business customers in California, Nevada and in suburban Chicago through the all-cash transaction. Megapath recently merged with Covad and Speakeasy and is trying to become a national, independent broadband services provider. It’s sale of Covad Wireless is part of a move to shed non-strategic assets like the fixed wireless business.
Related GigaOM Pro Content (sub req’d):
- Everybody Hertz: The Looming Spectrum Crisis
- The Internet of Things: What It Is, Why It Matters
- 4G: State of the Union
